Radical | A stranger things story

14: Demogorgon

I wake up and make breakfast for myself and Max. I look over my shoulder to see that she is finally waking up.

"Hey, Sleepyhead," I say.

"Morning," she responds.

I put a pancake on a plate as she sits at the table. I bring the pancake and syrup to her, and she quickly begins eating.

"Jeez, you are hungry," I laugh.

"Yeah," she yawns.

I prepare my pancake and sit down next to her. We eat in silence, and then I hear a knock at the door.

"Who's that?" Max asks.

"Probably Steve. He is taking me to school today," I say.

"Oh, can he take me too?" she asks.

"Uh, I can ask, but I don't know how your brother would feel about that," I state.

"Yeah, it's just that I was being rude to him yesterday, and I called him a dickweed. I don't feel like riding in the car just for him to give me crap."

"Okay. Let's ask Steve," I say.

I open the door, and Steve is standing there with a smile. I look down at his hands and see he is holding two hot chocolates.

"I brought hot chocolate," he smiles.

"Thanks!" I chuckle.

I take it from his hand, and he walks in. 

"Oh, you're Billy's little sister, right?" he asks.

"Stepsister," she corrects.

I frown and feel a bit of sadness wash over me. After a while, I never wanted to be called Mason's little sister either.

"Stepsister. Got it," Steve repeats to himself.

She smiles and nods. I watch her, and her smile quickly fades away. What really happened last night?

"Max, you should go get ready," I say.

She nods and begins to walk to the door.

"I'll be back, Steve," I announce.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" Max asks.

"I'm coming with you," I say.

She shrugs, and we walk over together. We walk in and see Billy brushing his teeth and watching TV. He locks eyes with Max, and she quickly looks down. I put my hand on her back and lead her toward her room. I shut the door and turn to her with my hand on my hip.

"What?" she asks quietly.

"What happened last night?" I ask.

"Nothing," she lies.

"You're lying. Max, you can tell me. The only way I can help you is if you tell me. Also, I care about your brother, which means, that if I want to help him, I have to know what happened last night. I can tell that there is still tension on both of you," I utter.

She sighs and begins to get ready for school.

"Last night, Neil called to check on us. Billy told him that everything was fine, but Neil is always so mean to Billy. Billy, for some reason, was really stressed that day and snapped on Neil. They argued over the phone, and then Neil hung up on Billy. Billy just ended up taking his anger out on me and just yelled at me for literally nothing. It just sucks," she says.

"I'm sorry that happened. Max, I think you should ride with Billy to school today," I say.

"What? You said I could go with you and Steve!" she whines.